Retirement age
Age at which a person expects or requires to retire
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Through Retirement, Pension and Roman Empire
History and establishment
The first recorded use of a state pension was established in the Roman Empire in 13 BC by Augustus for military veterans who had served for at least 16 years in a legion and four years in the reserves. This was later increased to 20 years in a legion and five years in the reserves.
The first retirement age was set in Germany by Otto von Bismarck in 1889 (Gesetz, betreffend die Invaliditäts- und Altersversicherung), originally at 70, before being reduced to 65 in 1916 (Gesetz, betreffend Renten in der Invalidenversicherung). Following this, more countries began to adopt an official retirement age, such as Britain with the passage of the Old Age Pensions Act 1908, which set the initial retirement age at 70 before it was reduced to 65 for men and 60 for women with the passage of the National Insurance Act 1946.
The United States adopted an initial retirement age of 65, under the bill of the Social Security Act of 1935. By the mid-20th century, almost all countries had adopted a retirement age.
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Arguments
Policymakers usually consider the demography, fiscal cost of aging, health, life expectancy, nature of the profession, supply of labor force, and more, while taking the retirement age into account. The increase in life expectancy is used in some jurisdictions as an argument to increase the age of retirement in the 21st century.
Arguments for lower retirement ages for parents include the unpaid work of parental care. Lower retirement ages for parents have been criticized for reducing the length of pension contributions, which can result in lower retirement benefits.
Actuarially neutral adjustment of pension benefits allows a flexible retirement age without reducing pension sustainability.
Some countries are equalizing the retirement ages between women and men. The expected years in retirement were 22.8 years for women and 18.4 years for men on average in OECD in 2022, contributed by sex differences in life expectancy. The generally longer expected years in retirement result in women requiring higher pension contributions to reach the same annual pension benefits as men without redistribution.
Reforms
Reforms tend to be phased in slowly when the retirement age (or pension age) is increased with grandfathering, ensuring a gradual change. One of such examples of grandfathering is the transitional pension rules, which were applied for staff aged 54 years or older, and to some extent, for all staff in place, when in 2014, the retirement age of European civil servants was increased to 66 years of age.
In contrast, when the age of retirement is decreased, changes are often brought about rapidly.
Retirement age by country and region
Many of the countries listed in the table below are in the process of reforming retirement ages. The actual retirement can be earlier or later than the public retirement age due to private pension plans or incentives to work longer.
In some countries, one's year of birth determines their age of retirement. For example, in the United States as of 2025, while a person born before 1960 can retire with social security benefits at the age of 66, those born after 1960 must be 67, however an added increase can be obtained by retiring after 70.
Denmark, whose currently age for retirees is 67, (men and women) will also be increased to 70 by 2040.
Many European Union Member States, currently imply a retirement age of 65, in the 2020s. However by 2030 this will be increased to the standard 67 years in most countries.
The average of statutory retirement age in the 34 countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2014 was males 65 years and females 63.5 years, but the tendency all over the world is to increase the retirement age. This is also reflected by the findings that just over half the Asian investors surveyed region-wide said they agreed with raising the retirement age, with a quarter disagreeing and the remainder undecided.
France
In France, the maximum working age was recognized in 2009 and set at 70. That means a company cannot force its employees to retire before the age of 70. France is one of the few countries to have three legal ages: the minimum (64 years), the maximum (70 years), and the full retirement age (variable, maximum 67 years).
Japan
In Japan, the legal retirement age was 60 until March 31, 2013. It will gradually increase to 65 in 2025 for men, (61 in 2013, 62 in 2016, 63 in 2019, and 64 in 2022), and in 2030 for women (61 in 2018, 62 in 2021, 63 in 2024, and 64 in 2027).